A Mellophone's Tale
by Chelseuh17
Summary: This is about my senior year of high school in marching band. It's pretty interesting, full of stupid times and cute guys. I also got tired of not seeing any mellophone fanfic, so here's mine.
1. Announcements

_This is my first fanfic. Tell me what cha think. MERCI!

* * *

_Chapter One Announcements

"This year section leaders will be-" announced Mr. Blackmer, our band director "Maria, Flute. Dianna and Allison, Clarinet. Mathew and Andrew, Trumpet."

_Ugh! I hate trumpets!!_

"Andrew and Peter, Saxophones. Jenny, Josh and Dani, Low Brass. Layla and David, mellophones. Jenny, color guard. And Kenny, drumline. Congratulations to all of you seniors and some sophomores. Now have a nice summer."

"WHAT?!" I yelled. "How come I'm co-section leader with David! That's not fair! Its my senior year, not his." I vented towards my best friend Jenny.

"Calm down Layla. You still have the higher power, he's only a sophomore and you're a senior. You can take him!" Jenny said in her peppy voice.

"True." We both giggled a little bit. David really was a wimp. He is the only male mellophone player I've seen at our school, _Carson City High School._

"Come on girly, time to go tan!" yelled Jenny as she tried to jump into my convertible.

"HOLLER! I feel all pasty!" Its true, being cooped up in school wasn't good for my tan.

We both jumped in my car and were off to my cottage. Where we could spend all day swimming and goofing off, like any soon to be seniors, should on their summer break.

* * *

After basking in the sun for a couple hours (and receiving a decent tan) Jenny and I decided to go back home and plan for band camp.

"Its going to be amazing this year!" exclaimed Jenny.

"Definitely! It is our time to shine, and scare the crap out of the freshies." I said.

"We totally have to plan some crazy pranks. But we might need the help of the other seniors."

"Ugh but I hate pretty much everyone in our class!"

"You don't hate Peter." Peter was her boyfriend. Extremely tall, lanky, a swimmer (like her) and the saxophone section leader. "Or Dani or Josh or Alex or Kenny or-"

"OK! I get your point. We will talk to them come July, when we have our first pre-band camp rehearsal."

We wrote some stupid idea's down, ordered a pizza and watched _The Notebook._

* * *

  
_Hope you guys like it. Keep on reading if you please _


	2. PreBand Camp Jitters

**I do NOT own Pirates of the Caribbean!**

Chapter Two Pre-Band Camp Jitters

"Welcome students! I'm glad to see some new and old faces." Mr. Blackmer said with a smile. "This year should be a promising year. The band is full of great potential and talented players. Now y'all are probable wondering who these three people to my left are." Blank stares from all the freshmen. "These are your drum majors." Still blank stares. "They lead the band." A bunch of "OH!"s were heard. "This is Jasmine and Derek, your senior drum majors. And this is John, you're junior drum major. They will be helping you and guiding you guys throughout the summer." Blackmer looked around and realized he was loosing the majority of the band, me included. "Ok before I put you all to sleep, I might as well mention what the show is this year." This got the attention of the once sleeping students. "Our show will be" he paused "Pirates of the Caribbean!"

"OH MY GOD!" I squealed. "This is going to be amazing!" I said to my other friend Dani.

"Oh I know!" Dani responded.

"Alright, section leaders come up here and grab the music and go to sectionals. But do NOT work on it right away. Work on horn angles, attention position and if you have time, the fight song. GO!" Blackmer yelled.

"MELLOPHONES! Follow me!" I screamed.

For being a small girl, I had an unusually loud voice. I was the loudest person on and off the field.

"Ok guys. First lets introduce ourselves." I said "I'll go first. Hi, I'm Layla your section leader. I've been playing the mello for three years now, and am so excited to be playing pirates! Need more ask."

"Hey I'm Rachel. I SHOULD have been co-section leader, but wasn't" she sent a very nasty look in David's direction. "I also have played the mello for three years, and also play the flute during concert season."

Rachel and I used to be best friends. During freshmen year we both played the flute and had to share the same drill spot because she came late, but half way through junior year she changed. She started to hate me and ignore my very existence.

The rest of the section said who they were; Carrie, the junior. Annie, the sophomore, also one of my best friends, Melissa another sophomore, David, sophomore and co-section leader, and our one and only freshmen, Victoria or Vicky as she wanted to be called. We had the biggest mello section I've ever seen, in years past the biggest we had was four. This was a big deal for me, I was in control of six other people. I loved it! I love being in control and giving orders, people told me to try out for drum major, but I loved the mello too much to give it up.

We worked on horn angles and attention position. It was rough because people forgot over the summer just how snappy they had to be, it only took them a second to get it down though. Vicky on the other hand had a hard time, she couldn't seem to grasp the idea of how snappy everything needed to be. I almost cussed her out on not being snappy, but decide to show my true colors later, and not scare her off.

* * *

Before we knew it sectionals were over and it was time for full band rehearsal. It was a hot Michigan summer and Blackmer decided to be kind and let us rehearse in the auditorium for the time being.

"Flutes and clarinets, front row. Skip a line. Mellophones and sax's third row. Skip a line. Trumpets fifth row. Skip a line. And low brass, seventh row." Blackmer ordered.

The colorgurad was in the band room working on the routine and the drumline was outside working on the hard parts of the show and fight song.

As Blackmer played the recording of our song, I realized just how important my part really was. In Part One (Fog Bound, The Medallion Calls and The Black Peal) the mello's and sax's had counter melody. In Part Two (Blood Ritual and To The Pirate's Cave!) we had the melody, it was a fast passed part. Heavy with the brass sound. It sounded like a chase song. And in Part Three (One Last Shot and He's A Pirate) it started off with a trumpet and mellophone solo! Blackmer said that he was probable going to turn it into a sextet, 2 baritones, 2 trombones, a trumpet and me. That would be amazing, having the best brass players in our band stick out and blare this beautiful melody.

"Alright, now you've heard it. Now, shall we attempt to play Part One?" Blackmer asked.

You heard a couple groans and a few yes's.

* * *

"That was terrible." I said as Annie and I walked towards my car.

"Layla calm down, its only the first rehearsal." Annie was so smart and understanding for a sophomore.

"Yeah you're right. At least next week we leave for band camp!"

"WOOO BAND CAMP!" we both yelled.


	3. Band Camp Arrives

**I do NOT own Camp Kimball!**

Chapter Three Band Camp Arrives

The week seemed to fly by, with practice on Wednesday and Sunday, Monday seemed to come early. Band camp was the high light of my year. It was something I looked forward to every year, and now it was coming to an end. Senior year, a year for a lot of last's.

"Well congrats everyone! We are now ready to leave for Camp Kimball!" announced Blackmer outside the band room. "We just need to wait for the buses, and then we will be off for one exciting week at band camp!"

"WOOOOOO!" shouted the band.

"While we wait, the lovely band mom's have brought you all pizza. We will go in order, starting with the senior girls."

Me, Dani and Jenny raced off to grab the food. We knew that we had to grab the food fast or else it would be gone, even though the girls go first, the guys always seem to sneak away to get first dibs on the food.

We managed to grab a couple slices and headed towards the gym commons.

"Psst Dani." Jenny hissed.

"Huh?" Dani asked reveling the mashed up piece of cheese pizza.

"EW!" Jenny shrieked "Got the saran wrap?"

"DUH!"

Saran wrap, a big part of our senior pranks we planed.

"Hey babe." Peter said planting a kiss on the top of Jenny's head. He sat down with us closely followed by Andrew and Kenny.

"Hey guys." Dani and I said.

"Hey Layla." Kenny said turning a bright shade of red.

Everyone knew that Kenny liked me, but he was to stupid to tell me. I didn't like him like that, he was just one of my best friends.

"Hey Layla. Isn't that Mike over there?" Jenny asked.

Mike was a sophomore, and my crush. I started liking him at the end of junior year, and the crush was back in full force. But I knew nothing would ever happen, he was a sophomore and I was a senior. It broke my heart to know that nothing would happen, but even so we still became friends.

"Hey Mike." I said a little flirtatiously.

"Hey Layla. See ya on the bus." he said with a wink.

I could only smile. But I knew it meant nothing, the brass and drumline had to ride down on one of the busses together, he played the trombone.

"If everyone is done eating, lets head to the buses." Blackmer said.

Dani and I started walking towards the brass buss when Rachel and Jasmine ran up to Dani and begged her to come sit with them and not me. I didn't really care, Dani was my friend as well as theirs. I gave her the nod that said "Yeah its fine." and she ran off. But of course Annie came running up in her usually bubbly self and demanded that we ride together. Gosh I love that girl.

* * *

After and hour and a half of listening to the show on my iPod and playing "Eye Spy" with Annie, we finally arrived at Camp Kimball. It was the same old rustic looking place as I remembered. You were greeted with "Goliath" the giant rock wall in front of the girls area, the lodge (where we ate and had night activities), and the woods, which behind them laid the football field where we would spend most of our time.

When the bus came to a stop, I immediately grabbed my back pack and sprinted towards the senior cabin, Saux. When I arrived there I was greeted by Jenny and Dani, saying they picked out my bunk for me. It was in the back by the back door, I was to be on the bottom and someone else would be on top. Jenny grabbed the bed in the middle and slid it over by me so we could talk deep into the night, and Dani had to grab a bed by Maria, Rachel, Jasmine, Diana, all those people who disliked me a lot. It didn't matter how much they disliked me because I had finally made it to my senior year of band camp, nothing was going to ruin it for me.


	4. Later that day

Chapter Four Later that day

After unpacking the food and drinks we all headed to the basketball courts to find our instruments. Mine stuck out like a sore thumb, I placed a lime green ribbon around the handle so I could find it come band camp. When I bent down to pick up my mellophone my light blue senior shirt felt very wet all of a sudden. Behind me stood Kenny and Andrew laughing, they had just poured water down my back.

"You looked hot" Andrew said coolly "We thought it was our duty to cool you down."

"You're dead!" I screamed and proceeded to chase them around the courts. I grabbed some random freshmen's water bottle in the process.

"Can't catch us!" Andrew said as they ran in the guys side of the camp. It was off limits for any girls, the band mom's had made that rule crystal clear.

Andrew and Kenny kept on running, I decided I would get them back sometime during the week. I went back to the court, grabbed my mellophone and retreated back to my cabin.

* * *

"Where you going?" I asked Jenny as she was walking away from the cabin.

"One of the band mom's said that everyone had to go to the lodge. I'll wait for ya." She said.

I ran into our cabin, threw my mellophone by the side of my bunk and ran back outside. We were just chatting about what camp had in store for us when we reached the lodge.

"Hello everyone. I hope we all had a safe and fun ride down." Blackmer said. "Well anyway, today is going to be a easy one. After this everyone needs to grab their instruments and head down to the field. From there we will get in attendance block, teach you a couple of commands, then start to work on marching. After that it will be dinner, then the night time activity. Alright?" He asked "Alright! So everyone go and get your gear and meet me on the field in 10 minutes."

With that everyone left and went back to their designated cabins.

I quickly grabbed my mellophone and headed towards the field. I was greeted by the rough rocky path that slopped down the gigantic hill. It always looked intimidating after a long practice when you had to hike back up it. I reached the end not only to be greeted my screaming freshmen boys who had made it down quicker than I had. Next to the burnt looking field there was the pavilion, where we would have our water breaks and sometimes full band rehearsal. It looked big, but once 115 band members came in all hot and sweaty, it felt like a small little classroom. After a couple minutes of waiting, more people showed up asking a million questions like: "What's attention block?" "Why do we have to learn how to march, we already know it" "When do we get food, I'm starving." Typical freshmen questions.

"Ok everyone, out to the 50 yard line." yelled Derek.

We all gathered around the 50 yard line and waited for Blackmer to give us orders.

"Low brass first row, Josh on the 50, and upperclassmen on the end. Everyone else, fall in." he announced.

Everyone filed in to where the upperclassmen pointed out to them.

"Second row, Andrew on the 50, again upperclassmen on the end."

The trumpets filled in, some freshmen pushed others out of the way to be next to someone.

"Third row, mello's and the rest of the trumpets. Rachel, 50 everyone else file in."

"WHAT?" I thought, "How come I'm not on the 50? I'm section leader, not Rachel!"

I decided to stand on the end, placing Vicky, the not so eager freshmen, next to me.

"Oops problem. Um Peter stand next to Layla, we wont have enough room in the sax/clarinet row."

Peter also looked mad, we were the section leaders and should be in the 50 of our line, not on the end. Alex, the obnoxious sax player was on the 50.

After 20 minutes of adjusting and figuring out where people should go, we finally had our attendance block.

"Remember who you are next to, look to your left introduce yourself." Blackmer said.

"Hi I'm Layla." I said sarcastically to Peter.

"Hi I'm Peter." He said just as sarcastic.

"Now to your right. Hopefully if you are an underclassmen you will have a senior or junior on either side of you."

"Hey Vicky." I said as cheerful as I could be.

"Whatever." she shot back.

"Excuse me?" I yelled.

"Hi." she said in a mousy way.

I could already tell there were going to be issues with this girl.

* * *

After and hour or so of practicing marching, Blackmer let us go for dinner. All the girls raced up the hill to get to their cabins to put their stuff down, while the boys took a path to get to their part of the camp. Me and Jenny just wandered up to Saux because we were seniors now and had the privilege of using our senior cuts. By the time we placed our instruments back in their cases, the line at the lodge was already long. But it didn't matter, we strolled right up and went into the senior door, obviously only seniors could go through it. We formed back into the line and grabbed our gruel which the kitchen called food and sat down at a table. Soon Josh, Dani, Peter, Andrew, Kenny and Annie all joined us. We sat there talking about how bad the freshmen already were, and weither or not we got sunburns yet.

A couple minutes passed and everyone was finishing up their meals, when Blackmer stood up.

"Attention! After dinner we will have our night activity. Which tonight is Freshmen Introduction." He said.

The seniors cheered, while the faces of the freshmen looked scared.

"Don't worry freshmen, its nothing to be scared of. But when you're done, you can go back to your cabins and freshin' up or whatever, but be back here in 10 minutes. You're dismissed."

My entire table got up and left. I ran up to Jenny and Dani, and linked my arms through theirs.

"So who do you want as your freshmen?" I asked.

Freshmen Introduction was exactly that, the seniors chose one to two freshmen to introduce to the entire band. You could say random things about them and even embarrass the crap out of them.

"I'm not sure, maybe Brenna from the sax's." Jenny said.

"I might grab Vicky, just for you Layla." Dani said chuckling.

"I'll prolly grab that annoying trumpet player, Jordan. I can really embarrass him." I said with an evil look.

We all giggled back to the cabin. Once inside it was talk of who people wanted to grab to introduce. I quickly put on some bug spray and met Annie outside my cabin.

"What should I say?" she asked.

Freshmen Introduction was also a time for sophomores, juniors and seniors to say some stuff about them too.

"I don't know. Just be like 'Yo I'm Annie! Mello playa' and annoying!'" I said laughing.

"Ha ha very funny Lay." she said.

"Well you asked my opinion on what you should say, and I gave it to ya."

Annie just rolled her eyes at me and laughed.

We walked back into the lodge and already the freshmen were huddled around one another, anticipating the arrival of the seniors. Finally the rest of the seniors showed up, and the sophomores and juniors were sent outside to go wait on the back porch. Blackmer gave us the order to go find two freshmen to introduce. I grabbed Jordan, a trumpet player and Andre, the only freshmen to make snare line.

"Ok so tell me about yourselves." I said.

"Umm I'm Jordan, I play the trumpet and um yeah." he said.

"Not good enough!" I said giggling "Tell me your favorite color, relationship status, and favorite band."

"Uhh, my favorite color is blue, I'm single and I love T-Pain."

"Wow. Ok, and you?" I asked looking at Andre.

"I'm Andre, favorite color is green, single and I love the Beatles." Andre said nervously.

"Beatles. SWEET! I love them too. Ok I guess I'll tell you about me. Layla, yes I'm named after the Eric Clapton song, favorite color is lime green, I'm single too and I don't have a favorite band, but I love classic rock."

"Ok guys go out to the porch and line up." Blackmer said.

All the seniors and freshmen wandered out to the back, the sophomores and juniors were awaiting us. I decided to go first.

"Hey guys!! I'm Layla and this here is Jordan and Andre." I looked around and saw blank stares, now I knew how Blackmer must feel. "Ok this is Jordan he absolutely LOVES T-Pain and the color blue. And guess what ladies, he's single." I saw Jordan's face turn bright red. Freshmen are so easily embarrassed. "And this big guy is Andre. One of the only freshmen to make it into the snare line, other than Kenny. He loves the color green, long walks on the beach, and candle lit dinners. His hobbies are drumming and drumline and loves the Beatles." Everyone "wooed" and I heard a few cat calls in his direction.

After me the rest of the seniors went and embarrassed their freshmen, just as I had done. We had finished and now the juniors could go. They were boring because they only talked about themselves and had no one to introduce. Then the sophomores went, I paid attention during Mike, Annie and Melissa's speech, but that's about it.

Finally it was done, Blackmer gave us the order to go back to our area's. Lights out was at 10 o'clock, so we had an hour to chill and take a shower. I opted to wait until morning for my shower, and wandered to my cabin, changed into my pj's and nestled into my bunk.


	5. The first full day

**I do NOT own Michigan State University.**

Chapter Five The first full day

"Layla! Wake up!" Jenny yelled at me.

"Mmmm what do you want? I was sleeping." I said very angry.

"Come on, its time to go wake up Blackmer!"

"OH!"

With that I threw on my softball hoodie, grabbed my noise maker and headed outside with Jenny. We stepped outside and all the senior girls were there looking very tired, like someone had just woken them up too.

"Alright, everyone hear?" Jasmine asked while looking around. "Alright ladies lets go."

With that we crept along the border of the girls and guys area. Our plan was to go up to Mr. Blackmer's cabin and wake him up with a little song, The Fight Song. Which was the Navy fight song, only it mentioned our mascot, school colors, and other cheesy high school things. We approached his cabin and I finally noticed my watch, 4:16 AM it read.

"One...Two...Three..."Jasmine whispered.

After three we all screamed as loud as we could the fight song. We were all very loud, even at four in the morning. We got done singing it and decided now it was time for the noise makers. We spun the toy ratchets right next to the door. Still no Mr. Blackmer, but we had woken up half the guys. Jenny got impatient and started banging and ringing the door bell. We were all busy making noises that we didn't notice Jenny screaming. It turned out that Mr. Blackmer had popped his head up right in front of her face, scaring her half to death.

"Good morning Mr. Blackmer!" we all said.

"Morning ladies." he said groggy. "Are you ladies done now?"

We were still spinning our noise makers, and stopped.

"Go. Back. To. Bed." and with that he slammed the door on our faces.

We laughed a bit and walked back to our cabin. We were met with some angry half dressed boys as we left their site. I guess we woke them and some of the girls up too, oops.

I was way to excited to sleep, I had all of this adrenaline pumping through me. So unlike half of my cabin, I grabbed my stuff and headed for a nice shower. The showers at band camp seemed to be the best thing in the world, after a long rehearsal a shower always felt like heaven.

I was alone on the upperclassmen side of the bathroom, so I got the good shower. I was soon joined by Jenny, who also couldn't sleep. She chose the stall next to me and we both sang the opener while showering.

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to take forever. Because the senior girls had woken up Blackmer, he gave us clean up duty after the meals today. It wasn't a big deal, just scrubbed down the tables, and we even got the left over desserts when we were done. During morning rehearsal we worked more on marching, and then started to chart out the opener. I started off directly on the 50 yard line, front and center. We did the first 5 pages, some playing our instruments and sometimes just singing. After morning rehearsal came lunch. Then we had mandatory rest period, which was just staying in your bunk for an hour to rest. I tried to sleep but couldn't, I could already feel a sunburn coming. Then it was time for afternoon rehearsal. This one was worse than the morning one, it was around two o'clock so the sun was pretty high up, and it was extremely hot. Thankfully Blackmer gave us plenty of water breaks, and we even got to have full band rehearsal inside the pavilion. Now it was off to free time. A time when you could get ice cream, swim in the lake, have water balloon fights, or play 'Spoons' in the lodge. I grabbed some money, bought a ice cream sandwich and sat down with my friends for a game of 'Extreme Spoons'.

'Extreme Spoons' is just like regular spoons, except instead of the spoons being on the table, we spread them out all over the lodge, so we had to race to get the spoon.

"YES! I won!" chanted Josh.

He always won, he was 6'8" and was fast. He could out run anyone, so he always won, no matter how hard we each tried. I was the first to loose and so I headed to go find Annie. She was sitting on the back porch talking to Andrew.

"Hey guys." I said approaching them.

"I'll see ya later then Annie." Andrew said getting up and leaving the bench.

"What was all that about?"

"Uh nothing." she said.

"You can't hid it from me! What were you guys talking about?"

"He told me he like's me." A huge smile came across her face. "And I told him I like him back."

"Annnnd?"

"Annnnd, we're dating."

"AHH!! ANNIE I'm so happy for you! Andrew is such a good guy!" He really is, he had been one of my close friends since sixth grade. He and Annie were perfect for each other.

"Now you need to go break the ice with Mike." she said proudly.

"Um yeah about that..." I trailed off.

"Oh come on Lay! Everyone knows he likes you and you like him. You two are practically sweethearts!"

"Sweethearts?"

"Yes. But no really, go talk to him."

"I will later..."

We dropped the subject and talked about sectionals, they were up next. We were supposed to have an instructor, but Blackmer never told me who he or she was.

"Layla. Can I see you a moment?" Blackmer asked.

"Yes?"

"Um so I couldn't find you a mellophone instructor. So you can either join the saxophone's or run them your self. What do you want to do?"

"I can run them. I can handle them!"

"Ok then. But if you need my help, come and get me."

With that he turned and left. "YES!" I thought. I get to run sectionals and get everything right, not some stuck up little college brat like we've had in the past. I ran off to the cabin, grabbed my horn and music and ran to our sectional spot, the play ground.

* * *

Sectionals went ok. Of course there were sometimes when Annie and Melissa were goofing around, but so was I. All in all the sectionals had gone pretty well. We worked on the opener and some of the second song. The goal was to get the opener and second song ready for final day of band camp, when all the parents and some band alumni came to check out the band. After sectionals it was dinner, again Jenny and I sauntered over to the lodge and went in through the senior door. After a "delicious" meal of some sort of meat and what was supposed to be mashed potatoes, we had our night time activity. Tonight's activity was, Scavenger Hunt. Where the entire band split up into teams, going by the last number of your drill number. Mine was 5, I had Jenny, Josh, Andrew, Mike, Derek and a couple of underclassmen.

Before you go to the scavenger hunt (which is held on the practice field) you bring down a bunch of random objects, like flashlights, pillows, bike racks, mattresses and some girls have brought down tampons. The trumpet instructor Anthony, calls out random objects and you have to find something that resembles the said object. This year, my team finally won because we had a drum major. And since Blackmer and Anthony went to Michigan State University, the final 'hunt' was to sing the entire MSU fight song. Derek always won because he was a hard core MSU fan.

Finally being victorious this year, I realized how much I would actually miss it. You dread the long tiring days and the corny night activities and the disgusting food, but in the end, you can't get enough of it. I was really going to miss it. But I still have a couple more days left, I must enjoy them.


	6. Friday at last

Chapter Six Friday at last

The week seemed to fly by, it was now Friday. The day before we left and the night of the bonfire. The bonfire is the night activity, its where the seniors step up and say just how much they love band and how much they are going to miss it. In years past, people have even started to tell stories. It was also senior night, a night of prank pulling and staying up all night long.

The show was really coming together, the opener was great, still had a little spot the we tripped up on, but it was coming along great. We were ready for tomorrow, the performance. It was now afternoon rehearsal, and we were going to work on parade block and pre-game.

"Alright, go up by the lodge and line up. Let's do it again." Blackmer boomed.

We all hiked up the big sloping hill and got in our lines by the lodge.

_Tweeeeeeeeeet_, sounded a whistle.

"BAND ATTEN HUT!" yelled Derek.

"HUN!" shouted the band.

Four claps were heard then, "DRESS CENTER DRESS!"

_Tap, Tap._ Came from Kenny.

After adjusting the line slightly, Derek gave the order: "BAND READY FRONT!"

_Tap, Tap._ Again from Kenny.

We stood in silence for a moment then: "MARK TIME MARK!"

"LIFT" said the band simultaneously.

We silently counted to four, and were off. The drum cadence started and our game faces were plastered on. The hardest part was marching down the gravel path of the hill. Rocks slid from underneath your feet, causing some to fall and get out of step. Once down the hill the cadence was really in full blast. Once it was over it was time for the fight song. Kenny started with the roll off, and we were off. Marching and playing in time, like any great marching band should. There was something about that field that made you want to march and play your best. It was a foreign field to some, but to others it was just like home.

Finally the ending of the cadence came when we approached Blackmer.

"STEP AND CLOSE!" The band shouted.

"Stay in attention. Do NOT move." said the very intimidating voice of John, the junior drum major.

Some freshmen in front of me kept on giggling and shuffling around, but when Derek walked by they piped up.

"Relax." said Blackmer. "Nice run through for parade block. Now set up off the field for pre-game. And after a run thorough or two, I'll let you guys go early for free time then sectionals."

We all ran to our spots off the field and waited for the drumline and colorguard to proceed onto the field. Once in position Kenny started the cadence, we all ran while screaming and dipping, it was very intimidating. You would be scared too if 115 students came running towards you.

After running through pre-game a couple times, Blackmer let us go early to sectionals. There we took it easy and goofed around a bit.

"Hey guys, before we have too much fun, we do need to get some work done." I said.

"Pfft whatever." said Rachel.

"No I'm serious, there is one spot in the opener we haven't nailed yet."

"Layla, seriously, I'm tired and my lips are dead. I don't wanna play and I don't think anyone else wants to too." she said giving me a dirty evil grin.

"I don't care if you're lips are dead, mine are too. Now lets work on this part for a bit then have fun. If you guys don't want to, then you'll be running laps around the field until I say stop."

That got them to shut up. The mello's were a dedicated section, but also liked to goof off, a lot.

We worked on the hard rhythm for a half hour, and then took the rest to play on the play ground (which was where we held our sectionals). Next to us were the drumline and they were working on the drum break, which was pretty awesome. So naturally when they played the fun part, we all got up and danced and looked like idiots.

"Alright guys, go put you're mello's away, and go line up for dinner." I said.

Annie walked with me back to my cabin so I could put my mello away.

"Gosh she is sooo annoying. I'll be happy when she's gone." Said Annie.

"Who?" I asked. "Rachel?"

"Duh! She totally hates you and David because you guys are section leaders and not her, its her right to be one because she's a senior, blah blah blah."

"HAHA wow Annie, you do a great impression of her."

We laughed at how stupid we really were. I left Annie in front of the lodge, while I went in the other door to go find Dani and Jenny. They saved a spot for me at our table. Tonight's main course is hamburgers with what looks like french fries and a bowl of jell-o. Yum.

"Lay, over here." Dani shouted.

"Yeah coming." I said back.

"Hey Layla?" someone called my name.

"Huh?" I turned around to find Mike standing behind me. "Oh hey Mike."

"Hey, so tonight's the bonfire. You sad?"

"Very. I can't mention you like I wanted to do, because I'd feel bad if I forgot someone." I said shyly.

"I know, I realized that after I had asked you. But before you talk I'm going to tell you where I'm sitting, so um, maybe you can look my way or something."

Earlier on in the week, I had told Mike that I would mention him in my speech at the bonfire. But I later realized that it would be bad on my part if I mentioned him and forgot Melissa or Annie or Carrie.

"Definitely. I will be looking at you the whole time, no one else." I said a little flirtatiously.

"Sweet. Thanks." With that he turned around and went to go sit with the rest of his sophomore friends.

"What was that about?" Jenny asked raising one eyebrow.

"Uhh nothing." I said shoving the burger in my mouth.

My table, which was now pretty much the senior table, had grown very quiet. We all knew that the bonfire symbolized the end of band camp, the ending of our senior year in band. Some of us had planned our speech since we were freshmen, others were just extremely sad for it all to end.

"Alright guys." Blackmer said standing up from his table next to mine. "Hey cheer up guys." He said looking over at us. "Well tonight is the last night of band camp. So that means, bonfire. After dinner, the freshmen boys cabin will be cleaning up. While they are cleaning seniors need to go to their cabins and pack their belongings and bring them to the lodge. After that more information will be dispatched to the rest of you. Dismissed."

We had to bring all of our stuff into the lodge because that was where we were going to be "sleeping" that night. The lodge will turn into senior prank headquarters for the evening.

Jenny and Dani were getting ready to leave when I ran up and joined them.

"I can't believe band camp is pretty much over." I said solemnly.

"I know, I've been looking forward to this night since I was a freshmen." stated Dani.

"Well come on, lets get packed up." Jenny said cheerfully.

We walked into the cabin which looked so grim to me, and started to pack up our belongings. I had already lost a pair of sunglasses, I knew I would never seem them again. I was one of the first packed, but waited for Jenny to finish up. She always over packed for band camp, so she had a harder time re-packing. But with my help we got her all packed up and ready to go back up to the lodge.

On the way up we passed many sad juniors and walked along side our good friends. Once inside we all found our spot to "sleep". I found a spot close the the edge by the back of the room, Jenny and Peter got a good spot by the unlit fireplace. We had the best spots, so I saved a spot next to me for Dani.

5 minutes later, the rest of the senior class strolled in. After much debate we decided how we were going to scare the freshmen, and told Jenny, the colorguard captain, to go bring them in.

* * *

All twenty some seniors sat in the basement in silence as we waited for Jenny to bring down the freshmen. Our plan was to hid behind chairs and curtains and scare the freshmen when they came downstairs.

"Do NOT talk!" Yelled Jenny.

We all were anticipating scaring them, when we were freshmen they did the same thing to us. It was tradition, and we as the _Marching Bulldogs_, hold traditions very high.

"Why are we down here? Its kinda creepy." said one daring freshmen.

That was the cue, when someone talked, Derek in his loud drum major voice, would yell and we all would follow.

"Who DARES speak at attention." he screamed.

This caused a few freshmen to scream.

We all leapt out of our spots and advanced towards the scared frighten freshmen. All at once we stared yelling at them, telling them to stand up straighter, chin up, no smiling, things like that.

"Alright seniors, grab a freshmen." Derek said.

I grabbed the nearest freshmen next to me, Damien, a baritone player who was the worst marcher in the band. So bad that Blackmer called him out over the loud speaker several times.

"Get into a double file line." said Jasmine.

"Damien, back here. We will bring up the rear." I said.

Damien and I were in the very back, farthest away from Derek and Jasmine as they clapped out the orders. What the freshmen had to do was stay at attention and march down the dangerous path to the bonfire, there were roots sticking out and fallen limbs everywhere, it was also getting dark. But they had to stay at attention the entire time.

As we came closer to the bonfire we heard the chanting start. "FOUR MORE YEARS!" screamed the juniors and sophomores. It was a very intimidating thing to go through. I know I was scared when I had to go through it.

We finally made it to the bonfire. Once there the freshmen had to sing the fight song, then the boys had to get down on all fours and bark it. It was amusing for everyone except the freshmen.

We made them do it a couple of times. When we were all satisfied, we let them sit down. In all the chaos of knowing where to go, I heard my name being shouted.

"LAYLA!" he yelled. "I'm over here."

Mike stood up to show me where exactly he was, he was to my left a bit. I nodded and headed towards my spot amongst my best friends.

"Ok guys, now's the time when we, the seniors, step up here and talk about band camp. You guys may find it boring, but when its your turn to be up here, you won't find it boring at all. So show some respect and shut up." Said Derek.

We all huddled with our friends. There were little groups of people, like the senior saxophones and Kenny, and the senior trumpets with Derek, and the colorguard, and finally my group, made up of me, Jenny, Dani, Rachel, Maria, Jasmine and Diana. We were the last group to go, so far no one had broke down and cried while presenting their speech. Jenny and Dani had gone, and now it was my turn. I looked towards Mike and started.

"Wow, four years has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday I was the one the upperclassmen were changing 'four more years' at me. Well four more years have passed and I'm now standing before you, section leader of the mellophone's." A couple of "woo's" were heard from Annie and Carrie. "These people around me have been my friends ever since I first started band. Because of band our friendship has grown tremendously." I can feel the tears pricking at my hazel eyes. "Without band, my life would feel incomplete. I'm a band geek and proud of it." I said, trying to laugh and keep the tears away. "Next year is going to feel weird, not having to go to Camp Kimball and spend a week with my best friends. I've meet so many wonderful people too," I glanced over at Mike. "So many memories. I guess what I'm trying to say is, stay in band. You will have life long friends, and have a great experience doing so." I was done, and the tears were just gushing out of me, Jenny and Dani quickly hugged me, we were all crying.

Everyone else went, and cried just as I had done. Now the part where Gorbe, our middle school band director, stepped up and played for us. It was a tradition that ever year after the seniors talked, he would strap on his acoustic guitar and sing "Oops I Did It Again", "If I Had A Million Dollars", and to finish "Every Rose Has Its Thorn". That was the song that got everybody. It was the slow rock ballad that Poison sang back in the 80's. It had a special meaning to those in the _Carson City Marching Bulldogs._

After Gorbe's song, Blackmer stood up and said a few words about the seniors. Then everyone was dismissed. I was the last to leave the bonfire, I wanted to remember everything about it. The way the fire popped and hissed, the way the tree's swayed with the night breeze, and most of all, the way my friends and I all cared about one another standing in the dirt pit ,which for the night, was a stage.

I walked up the little hill, and over looked my place of sanction almost. I was immediately ambushed buy a blonde sophomore crying on my shoulder.

"ANNIE!" I said into her shoulder.

"Lay, that was the best speech out of all of them." She said as she cried.

"No it wasn't, but thanks anyway." I cried out too.

We stood there for a moment, each crying on one another's shoulder. After a minute or two my tears had subsided and so had her's. She left me there alone with my thoughts. Until,

"Layla, that was beautiful." Mike said.

"Thanks."

Mike wasn't much of a hugger, when ever you received one from him it was only a quick little pat on the back type of a hug. But he ran up to me and embraced me, not hugged, but embraced me.

"Layla I don't want you to leave me." he said as the tears rolled down his beautiful face.

"I will never leave you Mike. I could never do that." I started to cry again, he held me closer.

"You're going to forget about me and never see me again." he said.

"Don't say that. You know I could never forget you Mike, you are so special to me. Don't ever say that."

"But what if you do, you'll find someone new in college and forget about the stupid sophomore." he pulled my head off his shoulders so his blue eyes could meet my hazel ones.

"Don't talk like that Mike. I could never in a million years forget you. You're one of the greatest guys I've ever met. And I mean that." he pulled me in tight again and I gently pecked his cheek, I felt the warm tears on my lips and I rested my head back on his shoulder.

"I will never forget you either Layla." he kissed the top of my head.

We stayed like that for what seamed like hours. But had to break away when a band mom ordered us to go to our separate area's, he to the cabin and me to the lodge.

I walked back to the lodge with my head hung and tears still rolling down my cheek. I wanted to stay holding on to that boy forever.

I was the last senior to arrive and got a lot of suspicious looks from my fellow seniors. Jenny ran up to me and started to hug me. I told her what had happened and all the Mike had said.

"I knew it, he is totally falling for you." She said trying to cheer me up. "Come on cheer up Lay, you now know how he feels about you, that's something to look forward too." A small smile spread across my face. "Now comes the fun part, planning our pranks."

* * *

_The thing with 'Mike', yup the totally happened! I still get teary eyed when I think about it._


	7. Senior night and the performance

Enjoy!! It took me a little bit to write this: band concerts, homework, volunteer work, you know the drill. Thanks for reading!!

* * *

Chapter Seven Senior night and the performance

"Ahh! Henry get off of me!" I screamed.

"SHHHHHH!" hissed the band mom.

When all of the seniors settled into the lodge, we decided which pranks we were going to pull and when. Dani, Diana and I started to make the freshmen awards for our sections. Since I only had one freshmen I chose to make awards for the rest of my section.

"Um I need to see Layla and Henry for a moment." said Mrs. Smith, the head band mom.

Henry and I exchanged questioning glances and followed Mrs. Smith.

"So rumor has it that you two have the most saran wrap. That true?" she asked eyeing us in a very odd way.

"Uhhh yeah I guess so." Henry said.

"Great. Then grab it and meet me out side ASAP!"

I ran over to my bag and grabbed the four rolls I had previously bought. But when I glanced over at Henry, I noticed that he had a huge industrial roll of the wrap. I decided to leave mine behind.

"Why did you want our saran wrap?" I asked meeting the mom outside the lodge.

"I want you two to help me get someone back." said Mrs. Smith, giggling to herself.

"Um who? Mr. Blackmer?" asked Henry.

"No, just do this car."

I glanced over at the car, it wasn't Blackmer's or anyone else's car that I recognized. It was a burgundy colored Impala, plain and simple.

We silently got to work on the car, but it didn't go as silently as we wished it would. Every time we tried to use the saran wrap it would squeak very loudly. We didn't want anyone to come and see what we were up too, so Mrs. Smith decided to keep watch.

"GET DOWN!" she hissed.

Immediately Henry dropped on the ground with me and Mrs. Smith on top of him. A car was pulling into the parking lot where we were busy with our dirty work. A minute or two passed and the person in the car left and entered the lodge.

"It was just a worker."

It was almost four o'clock and the workers of the kitchen were coming in to start our final meal.

After a half an hour or so our job was complete. The car was successfully saran wrapped, it would take a lot of pulling and some scissors involved to remove the thick layer of wrap. With the job done Mrs. Smith, Henry and I walked back into the lodge only to get bombarded by questions of where we were and if we were ready to wake everyone up.

* * *

All the senior girls had gathered around one another to decided how we were going to wake up the rest of the girls. We had decided on using our noise makers again and run around to each cabin, screaming and yelling like a bunch on banshees.

Creeping out of the lodge and heading towards the freshmen cabin, we got ready.

"Ready?" Jasmine whispered.

We all nodded and silently crept into the freshmen cabin, careful not to slam the door behind us.

We all looked to Jasmine and waited for her signal, just a simple head nod.

_Nod_

"AHHHHH!!" we all screamed and twirling our various noise makers.

As soon as these frightened girls heard us, they screamed right back at us. Only with fear. We danced and ran around their cabin and knew one cabin was successfully awake. With that we bolted out the back doors and entered the other cabin containing the remaining girls. We didn't wait for any signal, just busted into the room screaming and twirling our noise makers.

Happy with our job done we bolted back to the lodge to find the guys waiting for us. Everyone was now fully awake, but some of the seniors looked like they were going to pass out any moment.

Sleep sounded comforting to me, so I walked to my bag to find a blanket or something for comfort. When I opened my bag I was surprised to see four untouched cans of silly string. I had forgotten that I had bought them for senior night. Looking around the lodge I noticed two other girls had just found their silly string too, Maria and Jenny (color guard captain).

"You got some too Layla?" called Jenny.

"Yup. What you say we use this on some freshies?" I asked.

"I'm in!" Jenny said. "What about you Maria?"

"Yeah me too."

The three of us, enemies, joined together for one purpose: attack the underclassmen. The freshmen were still recovering from their scare when we burst into their room and attacked. We each used about two cans on their cabin alone. Satisfied with their cabin, we each still had two cans left.

"I have an idea." I said.

"Uh oh, this doesn't look good...for them!" giggled Jenny.

My plan was simple, run into the bathrooms and spray everyone! In the showers, in the bathroom, brushing their teeth, anyone and everyone! Jenny and Maria caught on as I sprinted towards the bathroom.

The three of us ran in, kicking the door back as we entered. Once again we started screaming like banshees as we 'attacked' the bathers with our silly string.

"AHH! What is this?!" screamed a freshmen in the shower.

"EWW! What the hell?! I'm gonna kill you guys!" screamed one of the annoying juniors.

We sprinted out of the bathroom and ran back to the lodge giggling all the way there.

* * *

"And now, I'm pleased to introduce the seniors of the 2007-2008 _Carson City Marching Bulldogs_!" announced Mr. Blackmer later that day at the performance. "Alex Anderson, Derek Benson, Rachel Clarke, Layla Davis, Danielle Ferguson, Andrew Gardner, Maria Kramer, Jenny Smith, Jenny Turner, Jasmine Taber..." He continued to announce the names of the seniors, and cheers where heard from friends and family members as their name was announced.

After the seniors were called, pre-game was over and they were about to start their halftime preview.

"Taking the podium first is senior drum major, Jasmine Taber. She will be conducting _Part One_of our halftime show. Jasmine, the field is yours." Blackmer announced.

She nodded towards him and started to count the band off.

* * *

"You guys sounded great hunny!" my mother said wrapping me in a giant bear hug.

"What were you listening to? Obviously not us." I said back.

We were terrible, the worst I've ever heard us in all my years of being in the band. We were not together, no one was watching Jasmine in the first song, and in the second song, no one watched John and we almost fell apart. Rushing so badly, it was hard to keep up with the different tempos being heard. Trying to follow John and one tempo and follow the drumline at another was simply too much. Half the band gave up and stopped playing to try to focus on their marching.

"Ok so it was a little bad. But did you have fun?" my mom said planting a kiss on my cheek.

"Of course!" I shouted.

"Where's your stuff I'll grab it for you and put it in the car." my father said.

I told him where everything was and gave him my mellophone so he could put it in my case for me.

I found all of my friends and their families and said my goodbyes to them and the camp.

I walked up the giant hill realizing it would be my last time walking up it, as a student. As I climbed over the railing, I caught my shorts on a loose nail and laughed. Realizing again it would be the last time I could get them caught on that nail, when over the duration of summers I had snagged every pair of shorts I owed on that nail.

Reaching the basketball courts, my parents still struggling to find my case I was ambushed by a hug from the side.

"Layla! Don't look so sad." coming from the shouting voice of Annie.

"I'm not sad." I lied. "I'm just wondering why my parents can't find a simple thing like a case that has a bright lime green ribbon on it." I said chucking a little.

"LIAR!" she shouted, she always saw right through me. "Don't be sad. By the way, I know something happened last night between you and Mike, when are you going to tell me about it?"

"Umm, later." I said planting a big grin on my face so she would know not to be mad.

"Ok you better. Call me tomorrow sometime and tell me ok?"

"Alright Annie. Talk to ya later."

She gave me a hug and ran after her parents, who were waiting in a near by minivan.

"Is this it?" my mom called to me.

"Yes mom, you've only walked by it a dozen times." I said back giggling.

"Oh...Well you ready to go?"

"Yeah, hang on."

I looked around the basketball court hoping to find Mike, but he wasn't there, and neither were his suitcase and instrument.

"Yeah, lets go." I said sadly walking over to my waiting family.

I got in the backseat of the car to find my pillow and blanket waiting for me. We drove towards a small town that had a Subway in it, I ran inside and grabbed a sub and went back to the car. My mom laughed at me telling me that I ate that thing in record time. It was the first real food I had had all week.

After satisfying my hunger with that delicious sub, I nestled down in the backseat, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Mmmmkay! Chapter 7 done, 8 is coming soon. XD


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